Ms. Hynde rips Akron once again

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Ms. Hynde rips Akron once again

Restaurant statistics tell a different tale

By Bob Dyer Beacon Journal columnist

Published on Friday, Feb 29, 2008

 

Chrissie Hynde seems to have mended fences with the mayor of her hometown — the two had a long-running feud stemming from her song My City Was Gone — but maybe that's just because Don Plusquellic doesn't to Vegetarian Times.

I don't, either. However, a helpful reader sent me a clip of an interview the magazine did with Hynde about the vegetarian restaurant she opened last year on the north end of downtown. It begins like this:

Vegetarian Times: ''You live in England. What inspired you to open a restaurant in Akron, Ohio?''

Hynde: ''Well, I have nowhere to go when I'm there, so it was out of necessity. I'm ashamed to be from a place where there's not one vegetarian restaurant in the whole town. But Akron has no downtown. It was razed in 1970. Now there's a drive to bring back a city center . . .

''I'm surprised it took 30 years to open a vegetarian restaurant in Akron and that I had to do it, you know? I live 5,000 miles away, but I had to come back and do it.''

She also took a shot at the rubes who patronize her place. When asked why she made her restaurant vegetarian rather than vegan, she replied:

''Because they don't understand what vegan is in Akron. It's too radical.''

With ambassadors like Chrissie, who needs enemies?

Akron link

Did anyone else notice the Akron connection in that half-baked New York Times story alleging a romantic relationship between John McCain and a lobbyist?

Paxson Communications, which changed its name to ION Media Networks last year, was among the groups who paid the lobbyist in question.

The name Paxson doesn't produce any warm memories around here. Paxson essentially destroyed the city's only commercial television station, WAKC (Channel 23).

When Paxson reached a deal to buy WAKC in 1995, the company vowed to keep the local newscast and the longtime affiliation with ABC. Then, the very day the sale closed, Paxson whacked the newscast. Soon WAKC lost its affiliation with ABC. Then Paxson moved the station to Warrensville Heights. Then Paxson changed the call-letters to WVPX.

R.I.P., WAKC.

We can all thank Paxson for making the world safe for infomercials.

Shaky stats

When the Pasta Villa Ristorante in Tallmadge pulled the plug earlier this month after a zoning dispute over loud music, Tallmadge Mayor Christopher Grimm said he wasn't surprised, because ''there's a 92 percent failure rate at restaurants.''

Urban myth. The last person to actually dig into the records and do a legitimate scientific study found that thefirst-year failure rate is actually 26 percent.

H.G. Parsa, an associate professor of hospitality management at Ohio State, always thought, given his experience in the field, that the common wisdom was way off. So, using Health Department records, he followed the progress of 2,500 Columbus-area restaurants for three years.

About 26 percent folded or changed ownership during the first year. Another 19 percent failed in the second, and 14 more tanked in the third. Total failure rate over three years: 59 percent.

Clearly, not all stats are created equal.

 

Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer.

 

Chrissie Hynde seems to have mended fences with the mayor of her hometown — the two had a long-running feud stemming from her song My City Was Gone — but maybe that's just because Don Plusquellic doesn't to Vegetarian Times.

I don't, either. However, a helpful reader sent me a clip of an interview the magazine did with Hynde about the vegetarian restaurant she opened last year on the north end of downtown. It begins like this:

Vegetarian Times: ''You live in England. What inspired you to open a restaurant in Akron, Ohio?''

Hynde: ''Well, I have nowhere to go when I'm there, so it was out of necessity. I'm ashamed to be from a place where there's not one vegetarian restaurant in the whole town. But Akron has no downtown. It was razed in 1970. Now there's a drive to bring back a city center . . .

''I'm surprised it took 30 years to open a vegetarian restaurant in Akron and that I had to do it, you know? I live 5,000 miles away, but I had to come back and do it.''

She also took a shot at the rubes who patronize her place. When asked why she made her restaurant vegetarian rather than vegan, she replied:

''Because they don't understand what vegan is in Akron. It's too radical.''

With ambassadors like Chrissie, who needs enemies?

Peter H

 

 

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